Miles Away
by KPsTheWord
Summary: Miles Renard was our everyday nerdy girl with no life. But that all changed when she called to a number on a TV commercial and got a lot more than she bargained for. Or a lot less? Equivalent exchange is a difficult thing so go figure.


A/N: Hello everyone! This is my first story in a while and my first attempt to write anything with slight a humorous tone to it, so I hope it's decent enough. And I'm warning that there will be grammar mistakes, but I tried my best! Also, I have many versions of this story and I would really really love some feed back to better this chapter as well as the upcoming ones, thank you :) The story is based on the 2003 anime, but there are some things from Brotherhood too(such as Truth).

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own Fullmetal Alchemist!

Chapter 1

I woke up to someone knocking on the front door of my apartment. Groaning, I pulled the thick covers over my head, burying myself deeper into my makeshift bed on the couch. Ignoring the constant, sharp noise, I willed myself to returning to the pleasant dream I had about replacing Link in Legend of Zelda with myself and sighed contently. It was warm and cozy, so there was no way I'd get up just because some idiot decided to visit me this early.

The knocking stopped and I smiled, finally they got the message. I was just about to grasp the remains of my previous dream, when my cell phone started ringing, Beethoven's Symphony No. 5: I ringtone suddenly booming in the room. Letting out a startled yelp, I fell down from the couch on to the hard floor, tangled in the mess of covers and too many pillows. I fought my way out of my soft prison and grabbed the phone from the floor next to me, reading the too bright screen.

Flipping the phone open, I brought it to my ear and grumbled tiredly on to it, "What is it Seth?"

"Open the door, Miles! I've been knocking for forever and I know you're there." Seth's voice said from the speaker, before he went on, "Come on, your mail came to me again."

"No. I'm sleeping." I bluntly stated. I had slept for a total of 4 hours and I was not in the mood to handle Seth and his bubbliness. Seth was nice and all, but he talked too much and I couldn't bring myself to focus on half of the things he uttered.

"Wha-? Why not?! You know what, if you don't open the door right now, I'm going to call all your friends and tell them your real name."

I sighed, wondering why he couldn't just go away and... What did he say again? Oh, right. "I don't really have any friends."

"...Oh. Well you won't be getting any either with that attitude!" He retorted hotly and I ignored his comment. He continued his speech about how a positive state of mind got you far in life and I yawned, lifting my free arm to stretch my back. Realizing there was no way to get rid of him, as I didn't own a gun or even a baseball bat, I reluctantly stood up.

I dragged my feet to the front door while he kept babbling something that I failed to follow and opened the safety lock. I hung up the call and pushed the door open, to reveal a very cheery looking Seth Thomas. Before I could utter a word, he sauntered inside with a wide grin on his face. "Finally! You sleep way too long, by the way. It's 10 am already."

I stared at him blankly. "I would have slept a lot longer if it wasn't for you. So, where's the mail?" I asked and Seth's smile grew. Extending his hand to show me what he was holding, he looked like he was about to explode from excitement.

"It said 'Important' on it!" He gushed and I raised a questioning eyebrow. "So you opened my mail without a permission. I think that's illegal."

He looked guilty for a moment before stuffing the thing into my hands and I took a closer look at it. It was a see-through CD case with a disk inside and like Seth had said, on top of it was a sticker saying: 'IMPORTANT'.

Forgetting his guilty feelings, Seth pointed at the case I was holding. "Aren't you going to play it?" He was practically jumping up and down in anticipation and I turned to walk to my shabby couch. I plopped down on to it and scrutinized the case in front of me. It looked suspicious. I didn't know why, but it just did. Besides, why would anyone send me a CD in the first place? It made no sense whatsoever.

"I don't know. It's probably just a disturbing joke, like porn or something." I said evenly, voicing my thoughts. Getting off the couch, I padded to the TV stand which stood just a couple of feet away from the couch and turned on the TV and PlayStation 3. I grabbed the wireless controller and sat back down, ignoring Seth's murderous glare.

He stormed in front of me, blocking the screen. "You are not going to play Skyrim now! I'm not leaving before you play the mystery disk!" He growled irritably and I leaned to my left to see past him, but he just followed my movement, stepping to the left as well. Why was he being so persistent anyway?

Letting out a long groan, I gave in. If I remembered correctly, Seth always won an argument. "Okay, okay, calm down. Let's see what's in it. But it's your fault if my underage eyes see something they shouldn't."

Seth sprung into action, grabbing the case from the couch next to me and all but ran to the PS3 and popped the disk drive open, removing the previous disk from it and placing the mystery disk inside. Then he hurried to the couch, sitting down next to me with a happy grin. Suspiciously happy.

I chose 'play' on the screen and waited for something to happen.

Then, it began.

Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist appeared on the screen. Shirtless and emitting a bright, blue light, his hands against chest and I immediately recognized the scene. The last episode of Fullmetal Alchemist the 2003 anime, where Ed brings Al back in his 10-year-old form. Mozart's Requiem: Dies Irae was playing on the background, in an attempt to make the scene feel more dramatic.

Then came the monologue; _"Edward Elric... A boy with a difficult past, strong will and above all, a heart of gold."_ The voice, or more like voices, boomed from the speakers surrounding me and Seth. I gaped in disbelief, unable to tear my eyes away from the screen.

 _"There he is. Look at him... He is sacrificing himself for his dear brother. It is sad. So very, very, very sad."_ The depressed sounding voices sighed in unison.

 _"But.."_

Suddenly, Edward was replaced by Truth's serious looking face from the Brotherhood anime with his index finger pointing toward me. The music abruptly changed to Strauss' Also Sprach Zarathustra, making me jump in surprise.

 _"..you can CORRECT THIS WRONG! YOU can make it all RIGHT again!"_ Truth roared and I squuezed myself against the back of the couch, completely stunned.

 _"Be a part of something bigger and call the number on the screen."_ Pause. _"And remember. YOU can make a difference!"_

Truth disappeared from the screen, a phone number taking his place, written in huge, yellow font.

The video stopped, leaving Seth and I in complete and utter silence.

Finally, after taking some time to recover from the shock, I slowly turned to look at my wide-eyed neighbor. "...What just happened?" I asked him, just to make sure I didn't imagine the whole thing.

Seth stayed still for a moment and I was about repeat what I said in case he didn't hear me, when he jumped to his feet faster than was humanly possible. "Oh my God! That was awesome!"

I stared at him, surprised from his sudden out burst. Glancing at the controller in my hands I decided to ignore Seth. Now, I could finally play.

Then, he turned to me, shaking in excitement. "Are you going to call that number?"

I looked at him, confused, before running a hand through my disheveled, short hair. "What number?"

Seth smacked his forehead with his hand, "Focus, Miles! You're in the la-la land again! The number from the video, wait, I'll send it to you right now!"

Faster than I could utter 'don't', my cell phone beeped, telling me that I had received a message. I went to stand up, when Seth's face appeared in front of my face, our noses almost touching. "Promise me you'll call there." He deadpanned and a light bulb went on in my head.

"Suuure, I promise. I swear I'll call right after you leave." I drawled, chuckling evilly in my mind. That should get rid of him and I could finally play Skyrim and sleep and...something.

Smiling, he nodded eagerly. "Good! I'll be off then, let me know what happened!"

With that he stalked out of the apartment, slamming the door close after him. I let out a pleased laugh. Well, that couldn't have gone any better. To be honest, I liked Seth. He was one of the few who didn't find me too boring and didn't care if I was absentminded most of the time.

Picking up my phone, I read Seth's message. The number and 'YOU BETTER CALL!'. I pondered what to do. It might be a joke, but it might actually be pretty interesting to know who was behind this.

I dialed the number and took a deep breath, suddenly feeling nervous. What would they say? Shaking my head to get rid of the anxious thoughts, I pressed the call button.

The phone rang and rang. No one was picking up and I was feeling sleepy again, so I lied back down on the lumpy couch, still holding the phone against my ear just in case someone answered.

My eyes were dry and my entire body felt heavy, like something was dragging me down. Closing my eyes, I fell into a deep slumber with the phone still ringing.

...

To say that I was surprised when I woke up would be an understatement. To say that I was gobsmacked when I woke up would be an understatement. To say that I was confused when I woke up would be an understatement. To say that I was-

Okay. I was surprised.

Just trying to bring some drama here.

Anyway... When I woke up, I was surprised to find myself very much not at home. Instead I was in what looked like nothingness, almost like a completely white room. But it wasn't a room as there were no walls, no ceiling and no floor in sight. Just white.

Whirling around, my eyes unconsciously searched for the impossible and when they actually found it, my heart seemed to stop beating.

I was looking at The Gate. And when I say gate, I mean _The_ Gate. It was huge and dark, a giant contrast against the whiteness. I gulped anxiously. This... This couldn't be real. _This is a dream,_ I told myself and relaxed slightly. Yeah, this was just a weird dream, caused by the weird video.

I let out a snort of amusement. Like crap like this actually happened. Besides, this wasn't even close to the weirdest dreams I've had, so no worries.

 _ **"Hiya, how is it going?"**_ Spoke many voices in unison suddenly from behind me. I froze, squeezing my eyes shut and willing myself to wake up. This was getting a little too freaky even for me.

 _ **"This is not a dream, you know. And it's super rude not to answer when someone asks you a question."**_ It spoke again and I slowly turned, cold sweat forming on my brow.

 _OK, that's it. I'd like to wake up now, please._ I thought as my eyes landed on the smiling form of Truth itself. It looked way more scary than it had in the show, but that was probably because on the other side of the screen it wasn't _real_.

Truth grinned at me widely, before speaking again, _**"So, how are you?"**_ It asked, although I was pretty sure it knew how I was. After all it was me and stuff.

I took a deep breath, inspecting its face keenly. It was transparent or white with just darker outlines, it was hard to tell as everything here was white aside from the massive Gate. "I'm good. I think?"

 _ **"That's nice. Do you know why you are here?"**_ It inquired, probably yet again knowing the answer already.

"Not really." And I really didn't. I had done nothing that could've possibly gotten me here. Unless...

 _ **"Bingo! You called me, so here you are. How did you like the commercial by the way?"**_ Truth said, sounding excited and I couldn't help but let out a stupified 'Huh?'. Then I realized what it meant.

"The video was a commercial? And you actually made it?" I asked in a shocked voice, finding this new revelation both hilarious and just plain unbelieveable. Why would Truth make a commercial, didn't he get enough suicidal alchemists to play around with? And how?

 _ **"You think too much, little human. What matters is that you are now here, thus The Chosen One."**_

A what?

" _The Chosen One?_ What's that?" I asked disbelievingly, forgetting my earlier fear for it. This was just getting ridiculous. Commercials, phone calls and now this.

Truth shook its head disapprovingly, effectively shutting me up. _**"You are here for a reason, however. Like I stated in the commercial, you are here to change the flow of the events."**_

I nodded slowly, before my gaze unconsciously wandered around the nothingness. It really was white in here.

 _ **"Are you still listening?"**_ Truth's many voices interrupted my thoughts and I blinked. "Yeah, I am. But why choose me?"

 _ **"Because you called me."**_ Truth simply said and I sighed.

"Oh. But what if someone else had called? Or was it meant for me?"

 _ **"If someone else had called, you would not be here right now."**_

"So, I'm just a random pick?"

 _ **"Yes. Any other questions?"**_ It asked exasperatedly and I decided to get down into business.

"Why do you want to change the events? And do I have to, if I don't want to?"

 _ **"Details, details,"**_ It waved my questions off, before glancing at its transparent wrist. _**"Oh, look at the time! We have been chatting long enough, now off you go!"**_

I was about to protest, I still had loads of questions, when I felt a cold touch on my shoulder. Panic filled my mind as I looked behind me, a terrified scream ripping its way through my throat. The Gate Children giggled joyfully as they grabbed my struggling arms and legs, pulling me toward The Gate.

"No, no, no, NO! Wait, Truth, I'm not done with you!" I cried, my body moving closer to the open doors in an alarming speed. One tiny, black hand covered my mouth to prevent me from screaming and I was pulled into the darkness, the doors closing after me.


End file.
